Writing, An Update

Writing is rather strange. I thought I would be able to write more this week by not blogging (hence no posts from me in the last six days), but I ended up not as productive as when I did blog. And it wasn’t the fault of AP/IB exams either—I had plenty the week before, in which I was able to write some 6200 words of a play. Right now the word count is 9500. (I feel I am about halfway done.) I suppose this has something to do with inspiration as well, as I write in chunks.

On the first day, for example, I wrote over 2000 words. It took the next three days combined to write another 2000. So it’s quite sporadic—some days I’ll write a lot, some days not.

Anyways, it’s a Lewis Carroll-inspired play, and although I wrote it in the form of a traditional play, it’s not exactly the most perform-able due to some weird things that happen. The title is Lewis’s Adventures in Wonderland. The play incorporates elements from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (upon which the title is based) and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter, and Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. There are many numerous references to other concepts as well, including to pure mathematics, quantum physics, and Internet behavior. Wordplay and puns play a huge role—the subtitle is A Play on Words.

Here is an excerpt from Act 2 Scene 3. Enjoy!

LEWIS: You did say that the Butterfly went this way.

ALICE: That’s certainly what I thought!

LEWIS: Is it what you thought, or what you said?

ALICE: They’re the same, you know.

LEWIS: The same difference, you mean. The difference between saying and meaning is the same thing as the difference between meaning and saying, so together they’re the same difference.

ALICE: What?

LEWIS: Nevermind.

ALICE: But I am very curious as to what you just said, or meant to say.

LEWIS: I didn’t mean to say anything.

ALICE: Or did you not say to mean anything?

LEWIS: Why would you mean something without saying it?

ALICE: I do that all the time!

LEWIS: So do I.

ALICE: Then why did you ask?

LEWIS: I asked why.

ALICE: Oh! Letsee, if I didn’t mean something without saying it—no, no, I’ve gotten it all wrong! If I had to say everything I meant, then I would be saying things all the time!

LEWIS: Precisely.

ALICE: Do you think anybody’s following us?

LEWIS: Why would Anybody be following us? I don’t think Anybody would be smart enough to fall down the rabbit hole—he’s not so bright, you know.

ALICE: Well I didn’t mean that anybody. I just—

[They fall into a hole.]

ALICE: Oh my! It looks like we’ve fallen down another rabbit hole!

LEWIS: This isn’t a rabbit hole—it’s a trap. Somebody concealed it so that a passerby would never see it!

ALICE: Never? I don’t see a Rabbit here.

LEWIS: Of course you don’t. This hole is a perfect cylinder—and a rabbit wouldn’t dig a hole in the shape of a cylinder, let alone know the definition of cylinder!

ALICE: But a rabbit can certainly eat without knowing the definition of food, and drink without knowing the definition of water!

LEWIS: Of course, that’s what makes them rabbits!

When I get closer to finishing, I’ll post more of it here. In the meanwhile, I’ll continue to post other topics.